[irahul]

> A few years ago, a feminist political party proposed a law requiring men to sit while urinating

> In 2004, the leader of the Sweden's Left Party Feminist Council, Gudrun Schyman,proposed a "man tax"—a special tariff to be levied on men to pay for all the violence and mayhem wrought by their sex.

Ever since Orwell wrote 1984, people keep confusing it for operation manual for effective governance. I sincerely hope this craziness is a couple of attentions seekers and/or hate mongers, and the majority doesn't agree with them.

> One Swedish school got rid of its toy cars because boys "gender-coded" them and ascribed the cars higher status than other toys. Another preschool removed "free playtime" from its schedule because, as a pedagogue at the school put it, when children play freely 'stereotypical gender patterns are born and cemented. In free play there is hierarchy, exclusion, and the seed to bullying.'

What brilliant minds. Let's stop citizens from going outside. Because, you know, when people go outside, mugging, rapes and shit happens.

[breakyerself]

It seems like those are extreme fringe examples not endorsed by even the minority parties in government there. No doubt they have done their job though. Which was to prove to you that those damn gender equality activists have taken us too damn far. React reactionaries of the world. React.

[irahul]

> Which was to prove to you that those damn gender equality activists have taken us too damn far.

They haven't proved anything to me other than triggering me into hoping that these crazies are in minority, and don't enjoy the support of majority.

[breakyerself]

Not a majority. Not even a minority party with enough support to hold office. Literally an insignificant minority of the population.

[unkoman]

Sweden is a horrible place. http://www.scb.se/Pages/PressRelease____342528.aspx

[saraid216]

Obviously, the plural of anecdote is data. All hail.

[pbhjpbhj]

>the plural of anecdote is data //

False data is still data isn't it. So literally despite the suggestion that anecdote is automatically false¹ a plurality of anecdotal information is still data. Indeed falsehoods still carry usable information.

This is a very popular opinion on r/AskScience and I can't really understand it. Many fields use self-reports as a central part of their data gathering.

The worth of particular data needs to be understood, for sure, but this chastising of people presenting anecdotal information needs to be reined in IMO.

- -

¹ A bloke down the pub told me his mother-in-law taught him never to listen to anecdotal data because it's all false. But don't worry, as I'm a scientist I took the same bloke to 10 pubs and he told me the same thing every time. I'm hoping to get a government grant to extend the study further ...

[saraid216]

I made the mistake of presuming the GP was contributing a substantial comment. This was not the case. In that case, he was not trying to pretend that three singular cases were representative of a trend.

> False data is still data isn't it.

No, it is not. Data has to come from reality. False data does not.

> Many fields use self-reports as a central part of their data gathering.

Yup. And then they recognize the potential errors this can introduce and have systematized ways of reducing them. For instance, surveys and questionnaires have to be carefully designed so that the self-report actually reports what we want them to report, and can be usefully synthesized into numerical data. Interviews are distilled into impressions and discussed or replayed with a colleague to mitigate bias. Repeatability makes sampling errors harder to remain hidden. Methodologies are written up with exacting detail so that they can be scrutinized and criticized when there's any doubt.

Over and over, they make up for the problem of anecdote and readily admit that their data can be faulty if an assumption is not recognized and accounted for.

> The worth of particular data needs to be understood, for sure, but this chastising of people presenting anecdotal information needs to be reined in IMO.

I am going to chastise people who pretend that their single cases have wider implications than the specific case they cite. If you'd like to rein me in, then perhaps I should start subscribing to the GP's paranoid fantasies of an Orwellian thought police.

[irahul]

> then perhaps I should start subscribing to the GP's paranoid fantasies of an Orwellian thought police.

Apparently schools actually banning free playtime is a fantasy. Did you actually read the article and my comment before running in both arms flailing?

[saraid216]

Hey, look at that. Instant pluralization. Thank you for proving my point.

[irahul]

> the plural of anecdote is data

Did I say this was the norm? And didn't I specifically mention that I hope these crazies are minority and don't enjoy popular support?

[saraid216]

I apologize. I assumed you were doing something other than a knee-jerk, thoughtless reaction. I rescind my objection, since the only point you could have made with that post was not the one you intended to make.

[irahul]

> I apologize.

Wow. That's the worst non-apology I have ever seen. "I apologize your face happens to be in path of my fist". A pig with lipstick is uglier than the pig without lipstick. But I guess that's what floats your boat.

> I assumed

What part of "I hope these crazies are minority" was difficult to understand that you went on assuming whatever you assumed? Must you imagine things you want to respond to, and then respond to them, when no one is even talking about what you are responding to?

> I rescind my objection, since the only point you could have made with that post was not the one you intended to make.

I missed the meeting where you were appointed the chairperson of inferences.

[DanBC]

Please stop.

[irahul]

> Please stop.

Neither I nor this forum is subject to your whims.

Use the 'flag' and downvote if that's all you have to say. All you are doing is adding unnecessary clutter.